Veneer-drier.



A. S. NICHOLS. VENERE DRIRE.

APPLIOATION FILED PI-113.1, 190B.

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Patented Apr. 20, 1909.

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A'. S. NICHOLS.

VENBER DRIBB. APYLIOATION FILED r3.1. 190e.

Patented Apr. 20, 1909.

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" AARON S. NICHOLS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

VENEER-DRIER.

No. 918,581.y

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 20, 1909.

Application led February 1, 1908. Serial No. 413,827.

T o all whom it may concern:

Be it'known that I, AARON S. NICHOLS, a citizen of the United States, residing in New York, inthe county of New York and State of VNew York, have invented a new and useful Im rovement in Veneer-Driers, of which the fol owing is a specification.

In'Patent No. 674,342, issued to me May 14,'1901, I show a series of steam heated platens arranged horizontally one above another, and opened and closed by mechanism including a steam or other fluid actuated piston located below the series, the topmost platen being held stationary by suitable means so that it can resist the upward thrust of the power mechanism.

My present invention is intended to be used' With driers in which the platens are arranged vertically, and are so connected together that the entire series may be opened and'closed by applying power to the outermost platens of the series, the object o'll the invention being to adapt the fluid power mechanism to the vertical platen driers so that the eiiiciency of such driers may be greatly "increased, and their operation rendered easy and noiseless. In the invention also, I'have endeavored to avoid the heavy shocks and jars and consequent injury to the driers occasioned when the plates close by thestyle of operating devices heretofore used with thel vertical platen driers, a type of which' Vdevices is shown in my Patent'No. 515,357, of February 27th, 1894.

The nature oit my present improvement is fully disclosed below, and is also illustrated in the laccompanying drawing in which- Figure 1 'is a front elevation of my improved drier. Fig. 2 is a partial side elevation. Fig. 3 is a section or' one of the platen operating fluid power cylinders. Fig. 4 is a section/'of the valve controlling the fluid cylinders. Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5'of Fig. 4 and Fig. 6 is a partial plan of the'plat'e'ns. Fig. 7 is an elevation of the cam wheel.

Insaid drawing, 6-6 represent the vertical platens, each hung upon straps 7 at its ends, the straps beingv pivoted at S to overhead supports so as to permit free swinging by the platens in lateral directions. Vertical corner'jcolumns 9 and horizontal beam 10 forma part of the trame of the drier, and

11 are braces for stiftening the structure. Between each pair of columns 9 and opposite the platens are I beams l2, and each ot such beams supports a hydraulic cylinder 13 by a pivot joint 14 adapted to permit the body of the cylinder to swing vertically and accommodate itselilto the changes in position of the platens. The pistons 15 ol the cylinders are pivotally united to heads 16 secured to the outer faces or' the outermost platens as plainly shown. It will be noted in this construction, that any movement imparted to the pistons in directions toward the platens will tend to close the latter upon the veneers, while any movement in the opposite directions, e. away from the platens, will tend to open or separate them. in order that the opening movements of the outer platens may with certainty cause a spreading or opening oi the intermediate platens, l connect the latter to the outer platens by lazytongs, consisting of a series of links 17 pivoted at their ends to each other and at their centers to the platens as explained in said `Patent 515,357. lt will also be noted from the description of the water connections given below that they possess sufficient flexibility to permit the rising and 'falling movements of the cylinders.

The cylinders receive their water supply from a common source, are controlled by a single valve and act always in opposite directions. The water supply pipe is shown at 20 and 21 and 22 are connections leading directly from it to the cylinders. The pistons 15 of the latter have unequal areas exposed to the water at their opposite sides, and said connections 21 and 22 enter the cylinders upon the sides of the pistons having the lesser areas. No valves need be used in these connections, so that the pressure therefrom is constant. The water supply to the greater' area side of the pistons passes through the controlling valve 23. The casing 24 oit this valve has a port 25 connecting with the supply pipe, a port 26 connected by pipes 2T and its branches 28 and 29 to the cylinders at the greater area side ot the pistons, and a discharge port 48. The valve is shown as connecting the feed port with port 26, and is capable of being shifted by the lever 49 so as to cut off the feed and connect the port 2G with the discharge. lVhenever the feed is connected to the port 26, the water enters the cylinders lupon the large' area side of the pistons and sul'licient power is thereby imparted to them to oveicome the constant pressure on the other side thereof and force the water upon that side back into the feed pipe, and to close the platens upon the veneers being dried. And this closing movement is so gradual as to be'noiseless and occasion no shock or jar to the apparat-us, the resistance upon the lesser area side of the pistons tending to cushion the close of the platens and to prevent the shocks and jarring which would otherwise occur. Vln like manner when the valve is shifted to cut olf the feed water and open the discharge, the outgoingwater on the power side of the pistons cushions the opening` movement of the platens which then takes place and renders that movement also noiseless and free from shock.

The valve operating lever 49 is connected to properperiodically acting actuating mechanism by the rod 30. This mechanism is preferably constructed as follows: An elbow lever 3l pivoted at 32 has one arm joined to said rod 30 as shown, and its other arm carriesran anti friction roller 33, at its upper end. This roller is so located as to insure its contact with a plurality of oppositely acting cams 34 and 35 mounted upon a cam wheel 36 carried by shaft 37 operated by the pinion 38 meshing with gear 39 on a second shaft l0 which is suitably connected to a source of power. The `cam 34 is adapted to shift the valve from the open position, z'. e., the position in which the water is discharged from the larger area side of the pistons and in which the platens are opened,to the closed position in which the water is admitted to said larger area side, thus closing the platens while the cam 35 acts to shift the valve back to the first mentioned or open position, thus causing the opening of the platens. As the platens should remain open for only an instant of time, except at the finish of the drying, the cam 35 is immediately followed by a cam 34 so that the platens will be closed almost immediately and before the veneers become chilled. The cam wheel may carry such number of these cams as may be neces` sary to give the required number of opening operations which may dilfer with dilferent woods and different thicknesses of veneers7 and they should be arranged on the wheel so as to produce short open periods and comparatively long closed periods.

I claim l. The combination with the series of vertical, movable platens of oppositely acting hydraulic cylinders attached to the outer platens, and adapted both to close and open the platens;

2. The combination with a series of versite faces are of unequal area.

et. The combination with a series of vertical platens suspended by supports which; permit them to swing, of oppositely acting i'iuid cylinders attached to the outer platens, said cylinders having pistons whose opposite faces are of unequal area, means for admitting to the cylinders at one side of the pistons a constant supply of water under pressure, and means for admitting to the other side of the pistons a regulated supply of water under pressure.

5. The combination with the series of vertical, movable platens of oppositely acting hydraulic cylinders attached to the outer platens, and adapted both to close and openV the platens and a single valve controlling both cylinders. y

G. The combination with a series of vertical, movable platens of oppositely acting hydraulic cylinders attached to the outer platens, and adapted both to close and open the platens, said cylinders having pistons whose opposite faces are of unequal area, and a valve regulating the supply of the water to one side of the pistons.

7. The combination with the seriesof vertical, movable platens of oppositely acting hydraulic cylinders attached to the outer platens, and adapted both to close and open the platens, said cylinders having pistons which are of unequal area upon their opposite faces, a valve controlling the admission of water to the larger and periodically acting mechanism for operating said valve.

8. The combination with the series of vertical, movable platens, of oppositely acting hydraulic cylinders attached to the outer platens, and adapted both to open and close the platens, and periodically acting mechanism controlling both the opening and closing of the platens.

9. The combination with the series of vertical, movable platens, of oppositely acting hydraulic cylinders attached tothe outer platens, and adapted both to open and close the platens, said cylinders having pistonsv which are of unequal area upon their opposite faces, a valve controlling the admission of water to the larger faces of the pistons, and periodically acting mechanism for operating said valve in both directions.

l0. The combination with a series of vertical platens adapted to swing laterally, and

faces of the pistons,

provided with means Whereby they may be provided With means whereby they may be 1c spread apart by the swinging of the outer spread apart by the swinging of the outer one of the series, of zt hydraulic cylinder ati one ol the series, of a hydraulic cylinder uttached to and operating said outer yplaten taclied to and operating said outer platen 'Y' positively in both directions, and controlpositively in both directions.

lingy devices causing periodical operations AARON S. NICHOLS. by said cylinder. Witnesses:

l1. The combination With 2L series of ver- PEARL ABRAMS, tical platens adapted to swing laterally, and EDW. S. EvARTs. 

